I Object
by AnnaTW
Summary: Tony objects to something. Think you guys can guess what. Tony/Pepper.


**Alright strangers, look what I found on my computer and finished off just for you. Random as ever, Pepperony as always.**

"I object."

Everyone's heads whipped round and watched the man who was now standing in the middle of the crowd. He stuck out like a sore thumb, despite wearing a nice suit like the rest of the men, he was out of the loop. Tony wasn't sure what had come over him, his mouth seemed to speak before he knew he'd even said it. And his legs decided to straighten out and he stood up which made the embarrassment even worse.

"What?" The groom, Ben, hissed.

"I object." Tony said with a little more force. After a split second he tried to figure out why he had actually said that _again_. This moment was becoming more unbearable by the second. Technically he did know why he had said it, because he objected. Because he didn't want Pepper marrying some other guy.

"Tony, sit down." Pepper glared at Tony. After seeing he wasn't going to back down, Pepper took in a deep breath. She tried to prepare herself for what was to come. She knew it was risky inviting Tony in the first place, but she also knew he deserved an invite.

* * *

><p><em>Two weeks earlier.<em>

"You're getting married?"

Pepper stopped in her tracks. She had tried to run from the room after handing Tony a pile of papers, but unlucky for her this was one of the times Tony actually looked at the paperwork. She had slipped the invitation in the middle of the pile and prayed to God he wouldn't find it. Ever.

Turning around Pepper saw his eyes hesitantly make their way to look up at Pepper. Like he was afraid of the answer Pepper was about to give. He was sitting on the stool on the other side of the computers watching her holding the workshop door open.

"Yes." Was all that came to her mind.

Tony nodded and swallowed a lump in his throat. "Bit out of the blue isn't it?" He laughed, although nothing about this situation was funny. He hoped to God that this was an April fools or something. _It's June though?_ Just a cruel joke then. How could she be marrying someone else.

"Erm, not so much really," Pepper started drumming her nails on the glass making a repeated noise. She was doing it for a bit of distraction. "I've been dating Ben for a while now."

"A while?"

"Yes."

"How long is a while?"

Pepper faltered. "Does it really matter?"

"Well," Tony hesitated. "No."

Their eyes stayed glued together, both with a million thoughts running through their heads. Pepper was thinking about Ben and Tony, in different ways. She loved them both as well, in different ways. Tony thinking of ways to prevent this. He had no idea how or why this had come about, but he knew he didn't like it.

Pepper waited for more protest. But when it didn't come, her gut told her to get the hell out of that workshop and so made a start to leave the room. She was stopped by Tony's gravelly voice.

"Do you love him?"

Pepper walked out, but not before giving him a longing look.

* * *

><p>"Sorry." She laughed nervously. "Sorry everyone, i'll just deal with this and then we can get back to it."<p>

She tried to settle everyone's nerves. Pointing to a door in the back Tony and Pepper both headed for it. She knew inviting him was a bad idea. Taking another deep breath Pepper pushed the door closed to careful not to catch the back of her dress in the doorway.

She turned to see Tony standing awkwardly in the middle of the back room. It looked to be a storage room of some sort with old statues, paintings and ornaments with dusty cloths over them. Tony had his feet together and was wringing his hands in front of him before shoving them deep in his pockets.

"You look great." Tony gestured with his head.

"Thank-you," Pepper leant back against the door. Tony wasn't an idiot and he only would do something this publically embarrassing if he was drunk. He wasn't acting like his usual drink self, it must be something else then. She waited for an explanation, but when none came she stepped two steps forward, still keeping some distance between the two. "What's this all about then Tony?"

He brought a hand up to scratch the back of his head and he avoided eye contact as long as he could before he heard her sigh and start tapping her foot insistently. "I thought I should stop this from happening before it was too late."

"Stop what?" Pepper knew what he meant, but hoped to God he would let it go.

"This." Tony pointed to the ground to emphasise his point. "You and Ben. I just felt that I should give you my opinion before it was all over."

Pepper furrowed her eyebrows, "Your opinion?"

"It's just that," Tony stepped forward then, closing the distance between them even more. "I don't think you thought about the whole marriage thing. I mean, do you even really know Ben? You only dated him for a few months."

Pepper chuckled lightly and shuffled her feet. "Are you serious Tony?"

"Well- I just think you've rushed into this-"

"How would you know? You didn't even know I was dating Ben before I gave you the invite." Tony bowed his head, probably in embarrassment of being told off by Pepper.

"Exactly." He mumbled to himself before lifting his head again to look Pepper dead in the eye. "Exactly Pepper, I didn't even know, so how long could you really have been dating him before you decided to get hitched."

Pepper noticed how close Tony had come to her in their very brief conversation. "I thought you said it didn't matter how long I had been dating Ben for."

Tony faltered, before nodding. "I know that Pepper, but it does." Tony brought his hand up to rub his eyes, to rub away the sting of tears that were trying to get through. He let out a long breath, "It really does matter. You didn't even tell me about him? How special can this guy really be if you're not even telling people about him?"

"Who says I wasn't telling people?" Pepper cut him off.

Tony was almost thrown off by her snapping at him. It was like she was trying to insinuate she'd told people but not him. Something in Tony didn't want to believe that though, something in him _couldn't_ believe that. "Well were you? Because we've known each other for a hell of a lot much longer and I had always thought that if you were going to start seriously dating someone you would have had the balls to tell me."

Pepper was a bit stumped. "Well why would I even have to tell you?"

"Because Pepper we're-" Tony snapped and started saying it before he could even think about it. _That kept happening to him today_. He didn't even know what he was going to say, but a flame within him just exploded. What were they exactly? Well they were Tony and Pepper.

"We're what Tony?" Pepper's shaky voice broke through his thoughts. She knew what he meant, she'd been hoping he would have done this a long time ago, before she'd even met Ben. But he was doing it now, and all she wanted was to just hear him speak. What was she to him? Pepper wanted to know if she'd made the right choice.

Before Tony could even think of something, the door behind Pepper opened, both Tony and Pepper turned round and tried to act normal. It was Pepper's dad, he smiled despite feeling the tense atmosphere. "Hi guys, people are getting a bit antsy, what's going on?"

Pepper took the reins on making a cover story up, "Nothing dad, erm," she looked back at Tony who seemed to find his shoes extremely interesting. "We'll be back in a minute, just tell everyone to chat between themselves or something."

Pepper's dad understood that they needed some time. He'd always been a fan of Tony because he'd always made Pepper so happy, stressed yes, but mostly happy. He nodded at Tony and Tony nodded back. Then he gave Pepper a supporting smile, "of course, i'll just break dance for them." With a bit of humour now in the air, Pepper's dad closed the door again.

Pepper turned back to Tony and saw that he'd again come a lot closer to her. He was definitely invading her personal space, not that she minded. Neither said anything for a few seconds, just their breathing could be heard. "We're what Tony?" Pepper urged him to answer.

Tony looked Pepper dead in the eye and took a minute to take her in. Re-thinking it Tony didn't know if he wanted to ruin her and Ben's special day. But all Tony could think was that it should be hers and _his_ special day, with no Ben. She looked so beautiful on that altar and Tony couldn't have felt more lonely in a crowd of people, watching Pepper about to devote her life to Ben. He didn't want it to happen. He couldn't let it happen.

"Pepper I couldn't possible explain what's going through my head right now," Tony said in a hushed voice. "And i'm sorry for waiting til the last second to do it, but seeing you up there with him just made me realise what I was about to lose-"

"You wouldn't lose me Tony." Pepper cut in.

"I would though Pepper," Tony stopped her. He reached down and took one of her hands, linking their fingers together. "I would be losing the most important thing in my life, and the only shot I have to be genuinely happy. You and me fit, Pepper. I've never experienced it with anyone else in my whole life. But we just seem to go together perfectly."

Pepper didn't know what to say or do. All of this truth coming out of him for once, and on the day she should be marrying another guy. She thought she'd just let him keep talking. Tony on the other hand was just saying everything and not thinking about consequences. He'd been doing it for the past 10 minutes and it seemed to be working more than anything so he thought he would just carry on and hope for the best.

"Please, don't marry him." Tony pleaded. "I mean, if that's what will make you genuinely happy then do it. Please just stop me from talking any longer and go and marry him. Because as cliché as it may sound, you being happy will actually make me feel good, briefly before the loneliness kicks in. But if that isn't what you want, then walk out before that ring's on your finger and before it's too late."

"Because I would really love to take you out for dinner." Tony smiled, "And fall asleep on the couch with you after watching a shitty rom com film, and fight over the shower with you in the mornings."

Tony stopped then. He thought he had said enough for Pepper to make a decision. Their hands were still entwined, although sweaty now due to Tony's nervousness. He let out a shaky breath and waited for any indication that Pepper was even listening to his whole speech.

"Tony, I" Pepper wasn't sure what to say really. She hesitated again for a minute.

Something in her clicked and she realised, that the man she had always been so infatuated with and had always felt so comfortable around. The man she wanted to do all of the things he had just said with for such a long time. That man was admitting to liking her, maybe even loving her. Granted he did wait until quite an inappropriate time to tell her, but he had still said it. And Pepper wasn't sure if he'd ever tell her how he felt about her.

Pepper just kissed him. It wasn't long, or passionate and it didn't get rid of all of their sexual tension from over the years. But it was a kiss, and that's more than Tony had hoped would come out of his objection in the first place. He rested his hands on her waist and nudged her that little bit closer towards him. They pulled away after a few seconds of bliss.

"That could not have been more unexpected," Pepper told him, they both laughed quietly.

"I know, I'm sorry," Tony said and let out a long breath, "I just needed to tell you before it was all too late."

"Despite the fact i'm going to face hell for deciding this on my wedding day, I'm glad you did it."

They took a minute just being with each other. The smiles dropped from their face when another knock came at the door.

**I always lose it at the end of my stories, but you guys always seem to like them anyway. Who knows when i'll be back, but thank you for all of the favouriting and reviewing of my stories whilst i've been absent as an author. Love to all, AnnaTW.**


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